Last week, a civil rights movement wrote a major new chapter in its history. Confused? That’s because so few people know about the civil rights movement led by and on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities.

The struggle has been centuries in the making. Worldwide, people with intellectual disabilities have always been among the most discriminated minorities. Routinely subjected to institutionalization, medical experimentation, abortion, infanticide, and the denial of everything from employment to education to health care, this population of over 200 million people is standing up for dignity and integrity. What they’re asking for shouldn’t be too much for any society: full humanity as citizens deserving of respect, integration, and rights.

And they’re getting attention in the most unlikely way. They’re trying to jog the consciousness of a nation by sensitizing people to a subtle but pernicious prejudice that is reflected in our language—in the common use of the word “retard.”

Last week, controversy over the use of the word exploded onto the nations’ airwaves, blogs, and newspapers. For the first time, “retard,” or the “r-word,” a painfully dehumanizing word for people with intellectual disabilities, came to the forefront of American politics and media in a serious way. For the first time, it became clear that there’s another civil rights movement.

For those who missed it, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel allegedly called liberal Democrats “fucking retarded” after a White House strategy meeting. Sarah Palin attacked and called for his resignation.

Then Rush Limbaugh entered the fray and mocked the whole controversy because he believed that Emanuel was simply “calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards.” He proceeded to name the White House meeting, at which the Chief of Staff met with Special Olympics Athletes and Staff, a “retard summit.” (In one of the most illogical instances of political weaseling in recent memory, Sarah Palin, whose youngest son has Down syndrome, actually came to Limbaugh’s defense, claiming that he was using harmless “satire.”)

Though leveraged for political means, the controversy critically demonstrates the pervasive callousness toward both the word and the people whom it demeans. Right or left, Chief of Staff or shock jock, liberal or conservative, no group can claim the high ground. A few minutes around campus make this point abundantly clear. The slur is everywhere, and no one type of person seems more likely to use it than another.

The obvious question seems to be: If everyone uses it and does not intend harm, then who cares? The whole controversy boils down to pandering about political correctness, right?

Emanuel’s use of the word makes it easy too see why this discussion means so much more than who is “PC” and who isn’t. He came out of a meeting where he felt his colleagues were slow, dense, and ineffective. Instinctively, he jumped to label them “retarded.” He, along with most people, immediately associates these characteristics with people with intellectual disabilities, perpetuating a stigma that follows them throughout life.

Just for comparison, now imagine that Emanuel came out of a meeting with a group who he felt were lazy and useless, and he called them “fucking niggers.” Or that he felt they were miserly, and he called them “fucking kikes.” Like the r-word, these words carry demeaning connotations that, even when directed at others, stigmatize African-Americans and Jews respectively and impoverish our ability to integrate and embrace every member of society.

Amongst the SNL skits and Colbert Report segments that this controversy has produced, there lies an incredible opportunity for all of America, but especially for students on this campus—the opportunity to join the next major civil rights movement. Last year Yale was one of the founding schools in a student-led international campaign called “Spread the Word to End the Word.” You may remember the blue T-shirts that said “3.31.09” and the tables across campus asking you to pledge your support. Almost 20 percent of campus signed a petition. In just one year, the campaign has spread from only 30 schools to several hundred colleges alongside several hundred elementary, middle, and high schools. On Wed., Mar. 3, students, faculty, and staff will once again be asked to sign a pledge to stop their own use of the word.

Yet, the campaign asks us for more than a single day of activism and a signature. As many critics have pointed out, you can never completely end the use of a word, and there will always be new disparaging words. For this reason, we must go beyond words and reach out to those often-invisible members of society whose incredible talents and personalities go unnoticed. Volunteer for Special Olympics or Best Buddies; support legislation that promotes better access to health care and education; encourage employers such as Yale to hire people with intellectual disabilities.

There’s a movement getting ready to take off. The first step is to change our language. Leaders of our country are starting to get the message. It’s time for Yale students to get it too, and not just follow this movement but help lead it. In seeking out and recognizing these individuals as valuable citizens, we begin to chip away at the wall of brutal intolerance and exclusion that has characterized their lives throughout human history.

Tim Shriver, a junior in Ezra Stiles College, is the co-founder and president of Yale Students for Special Olympics College and the co-founder of the “Spread the Word to End the Word” Campaign.